FEC increases contribution limits for 2021–2022

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FEC increases contribution limits for 2021–2022

FEC increases contribution limits for 2021–2022

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February 5, 2021

Earlier this week, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) announced updated federal contribution limits for the 2021-2022 election cycle as required under the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). The adjustments, published in the Federal Register on February 2, represent the end result of the mandatory inflation adjustment required of the FEC in odd-numbered years at the start of each federal election cycle. The current set of modifications, detailed in the summary chart below, represent a small upward indexing based upon changes in federal cost of living data since the FEC’s last contribution limit revision in early 2019.

Donor	Recipient
Donor	Candidate Committee	PAC	Super PAC	State, Local or District Party Committee (Federal Accounts)	National Party Committee Main Account	National Party Committee Special Accounts
Individual	US$2,900 per election	US$5,000 per year	Unlimited	US$10,000 per year (combined)	US$36,500 per year *Each national party committee has its own separate contribution limit. For example, the national senatorial and congressional committees of both major parties have separate limits from the DNC and RNC.	US$109,500 per account per year Each national party committee has special accounts for: (1) HQ building costs; (2) election recount, challenge and legal costs; and (3) presidential convention costs (DNC and RNC only).*
PAC	US$5,000 per election for multicandidate PACs US$2,900 per election for non-multicandidate PACs	US$5,000 per year for all PACs	Unlimited	US$5,000 per year (combined) for multicandidate PACs US$10,000 per year (combined) for non-multicandidate PACs	US$15,000 per year for multicandidate PACs US$36,500 per year for non-multicandidate PACs	US$45,000 per year per account for multicandidate PACs US$109,500 per year per account for non-multicandidate PACs

Key changes of note for individual donors looking to engage in the 2022 election cycle include the following:

A new US$2,900 per election limit for individual contributors giving to federal candidate committees - a US$100 upward adjustment from the 2020 cycle.
A new US$36,500 per year limit for individual contributors giving to national party committee main accounts - a US$1,000 upward adjustment from the 2022 cycle.
A new US$109,500 per year limit for individual contributors giving to national party committee special accounts - a US$3,000 upward adjustment from the 2022 cycle.

Key changes of note for PAC donors looking to engage in the 2022 election cycle include the following:

A new US$36,500 per year limit for non-multicandidate PAC contributors giving to national party committee main accounts - a US$1,000 upward adjustment from the 2022 cycle.
A new US$109,500 per year limit for non-multicandidate PAC contributors giving to national party committee special accounts - a US$3,000 upward adjustment from the 2022 cycle.

Donation limits for multi-candidate PAC contributions are not indexed for inflation and thus remain at the same levels as the 2020 election cycles.

For advice and counsel concerning the application of these new limits to anticipated political giving during the 2022 election and other campaign finance and election law matters, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Dentons Political Law Team.